Samara Metro (russian: link=no, Самарское Метро), formerly known as the Kuybyshev Metro (), is a

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...

system which serves the city of

Samara, Russia Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara rivers, with a population ...

. Opened in 1987, it consists of one line with ten stations and approximately of bi-directional track.

History

The city of Samara (known during Soviet times as Kuybyshev) is situated at the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...

of the

Samara Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara rivers, with a population ...

and

Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catch ...

Rivers. Being an important junction of several waterways and railways, the city grew rapidly during the 20th century simultaneously becoming an important industrial centre. In the late 1970s its population exceeded one million, passing the legal Soviet requirement to begin developing a rapid-transit system. The design plan for Kuybyshev was based on the standard Soviet triangle arrangement, but with provisions to suit the dynamics of Kuybyshev, whose business, commercial and historical centre is situated on the edge, on the bank of the

Volga River The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catch ...

. Whilst the edges of the city were located with industrial zones and Soviet bedroom regions, most of the central regions (the geographical centre) between the areas were flats built primarily for the workers. It was also the central area which experienced the most concentrated congestion. In the finalised plan, the first stage was to pass under this central artery and then expand westwards towards following the bank of the Volga around the commercial zone and eventually terminating at the city's central railway terminal. Construction began in 1980, on the first four station stretch totaling . On 25 December 1987 the system was triumphantly opened to the public, becoming the fifth such in Russia and the twelfth of the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. Immediately after the opening of the first stage, which despite its modest size (compared to other Soviet systems) the Metro was overburdened with passengers. Construction of the second stage began shortly; however, this was slowed with the disintegration of the

and the chaotic economic hardships that followed. Originally scheduled to open in 1991, the next three-station segment opened slowly, one station at a time, between December 1992 and December 1993. Despite the

economic stagnation Economic stagnation is a prolonged period of slow economic growth (traditionally measured in terms of the GDP growth), usually accompanied by high unemployment. Under some definitions, "slow" means significantly slower than potential growth as e ...

, the system managed to grow to length that allowed it to carry out its major transport role, unlike the ill-fated

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

and

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

Metros throughout the 1990s. Construction on the third planned stage, originally destined for the second half of the 1990s began in 1991, was extremely slow because of constant offsets. The first station opened in December 2002, the second following five years later in 2007. The next station, Alabinskaya, was due to follow in 2010, however it has been delayed to 2015. Because Samara Metro builders helped to finish off

Kazan Metro The Kazan Metro (russian: Каза́нский метрополите́н; tt-Cyrl, Казан метросы) is a rapid-transit system that serves the city of Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. The metro system was the seventh opened in Russia, and the ...

in 2005, the latter system donated its newer tunnel boring machine to bore the tunnels from Rossiyskaya to Alabinskaya.

Timeline

The Samara Metro has opened in stages, with the dates and lengths of each stage listed below:

Operation

The system is operated by a municipal company ''Samarsky Metropoliten'' that was privatised from the Russian Ministry of Rail services back in the early 1990s. The company is responsible for all management of the system, including management and repairs of tunnel and track,

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles ca ...

, stations and even planning coordination of construction works.

Stations

The Samara Metro serves ten stations along its single line, .

Rolling stock

The rolling stock is provided by a sole Depot "Kirovskoye" which is responsible for management of all cars. Presentely there are 11 four-carriage trains assigned to the system. All of them are model 81-717/714 although some are .5 standard.

Future

The completion of the first line was originally planned for 2015. However, most of the development was stalled, due to political, financial, or bureaucratic reasons. The work on two of the stations that were initially meant to lengthen the first line has been stopped because it posed danger to buildings of historical and cultural value. The second line is expected to be in length and have six stations. Its construction will take place as part of the program for development of the transportation system of Samara, planned for the time period between 2014 and 2025.

History

Timeline

Operation

Stations

Rolling stock

Future

Network Map

See also

References

External links